Alternate Reality
by Miya-kun
Summary: Modern town, nothing ninja and magical, Hinata is a new student, etc. Characters are the same, setting and incidents... totally different. Lots of fluff, some humour, mostly just general school life! May be rated a bit too high, but I'm being safe.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: This fanfic is like an alternate reality for all the Naruto characters: they are normal teenagers, not ninjas, and go to a (relatively) normal high school (of course it can't be completely normal, as the teachers will be people like Kakashi (that mysterious pervert) and Gai (just plain weird), but the classes will be normal things like math). But though the characters' lives are different (i.e. Sasuke's brother is as he once was, and not evil, and Sasuke's parents are alive; Naruto's parents are still dead, but because of a car accident which is how he got those cute scars XP and NOT a demon fox), they still look the same (though not their outfits, as Kankuro looks like he is wearing pyjamas, Sasuke looks like he's wearing an acrobat's spandex suit, and Ino seemed to have gotten tangled up in bandages. And Tsunade's outfit is not a very… conservative one, especially not suitable for a principal), and their personalities are basically the same (not completely, for instance of course Sasuke isn't all bent on vengeance, as there is nothing to avenge, but he is still rather serious, and Hinata is still quiet and shy, etc., etc., etc).

Second part of Author's Note: Pairings. Only one thing to say: though this fanfic will not be _only_ mushy mushy knutchy knutchy (lol… that's fun to say), there will be a lot of fluff, and a lot of pairings. Here they are: SakuNaru, ShikaTem, NejiTen, and some surprise ones later (bwahaha). (One of the reasons I made Hinata a new student is so that I don't have any guilty feelings about pairing Naruto with Sakura.)

And… third and last part of the Author's Note: The names of the towns and cities are fictional. My own little Narutoverse. (I can't have them living in Konoha, or the other hidden villages, because there's cars and stuff in my story, and the streets of Konoha aren't exactly ideal for cars.) I'm naming all the cities and towns by making stupid, nonsensical phrases in English (or just taking a random word) and then translating them into Japanese with my handy-dandy Japanese/English-English/Japanese dictionary. (For instance, the city they live in is called Chisaii Hayashi –Little Grove, even though it is not all that little and is not really a grove. It just sounds cool. I won't even tell you what the other names that may pop up mean XD.) Anyways… it is time for the disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I merely dabble in his world, whether he likes it or not.

Italicized words thoughts.

Oh, I almost forgot! (I know, I know you just want me to shut up with all these post-story drabbles, but I have to mention this: as I said before, they all look the same aside from their outfits, and that includes the Hyugas' cool eyes (at least I think they're cool), which may seem a bit… odd, when I first say that, but think about it! It's anime; there are often creepy features about people like that in anime, the most prominent one being their hair. Like Kakashi's… in real life he would need enough gel to slick down a grizzly bear for that 'do. And in DragonBallZ? (I absolutely hate that show, but I still know about it.) Their hair is even more like that! So when you think about it, the Hyuga eyes aren't really _that_ out of place, even in a non-ninja setting, if its anime we're talking about. However… I just can't think of a way to get the Uchihas' sharingan eyes in there. Now those would draw attention even in anime. If you can suggest a way to get the Uchiha family to have sharingan eyes without everyone making a cross sign when they pass, that would be appreciated. If not, I'll just make sure their eyes stay normal. (Although Kakashi is still going to have one; I've already thought of a way to get that to work.)

And finally!... the story.

* * *

CHAPTER ONE – Enter the characters!

It was cold for early September. Yamanaka Ino huddled her chin deeper into the high collar of a blue, cozy puffy coat. The chilly morning breeze tossed the one strand of platinum blonde hair that fell across her face back and forth, and she shivered as the same wind crept icy spider fingers across the back of her legs. _I really shouldn't have worn a skirt, _she admitted to herself. _But I have to make a good impression on the first day of school. And anyways, it had _looked _warm through the window. _It was true. The sun was shining, and the wind wasn't strong enough to really show in the trees' movements. But it was definitely strong enough to chill bare skin.

Ino, her face towards the ground, caught a glimpse of movement ahead, and looked up. Her strand of hair fluttered across her eyes again.

It was Sasuke, also walking to school alone, a few yards ahead and across the street. Ino smiled to herself wistfully, remembering the good ol' days when she would have yelled "Sasuke-kuuun!" and ran ahead to glomp him. Now she didn't; she had gained enough sense over the last year to realise it was actions like these that were probably the main reasons he couldn't tolerate his fan club. It had been sheer torture at first to force herself to be less ahem forward with him, as at least that way she had gotten the result that he had noticed her that day. Staying quiet around him meant being ignored completely. But it was worth it in the end. She could talk comfortably around him now, as long as she ignored the lurching feelings in her stomach.

It was lucky, really, that Sakura had made her realise she should quit her screaming fangirl days. Sakura had gotten over Sasuke first. Ino could still remember the shock she had received when the pink-haired girl had told her this. After all, it was utterly impossible. Sakura, give up on Sasuke? Ridiculous.

And yet it had happened. Somehow, by some freak of nature, Sakura had realised she had liked someone else for some time now. It was _who _that certain person was that made it, if possible, even more of a bamboozlement than that first bit of information about no longer liking Sasuke.

FLASHBACK (Sakura's POV):

A fly scuttled across the ceiling. The ceiling that constantly annoyed her, being there every time she awoke, always gleaming its sickeningly cheerful white down at her; the first colour she saw when she woke up, the last colour she saw before drifting back into merciful sleep. It was hell. She couldn't even lie on her stomach to get rid of the sight, and turning her head didn't make a difference; the walls were white, too.

At least she didn't have anything, really, to worry about besides boredom. Nobody had been fatally injured or killed in the car crash; the people in the other car had gotten out unscathed, her dad had suffered only from a broken arm, and her mom only some painful cuts and bruises. It was her who had gotten the worst of it, as the car behind them had rammed into the back of their vehicle.

A broken back. She was utterly paralyzed for now, though so drugged on painkillers it at least didn't hurt. She had been devastated when she had woken up in the hospital bed and told of her plight, thinking she would be a cripple for life, but apparently not. Technology was wonderful enough to be able to get her back to normal, though it would take a while.

But life in the hospital was as dull as it got. Friends and her parents visited her frequently, but in between she had to spend the time sleeping even in the brightest hours of day, or watching that white ceiling.

The fly took off as the door opened. Sakura twisted her head to see her favourite nurse, a plump, pretty woman, standing in the doorway. "A visitor for you, Miss Sakura," she announced. Sakura nodded to let them in.

Naruto pranced into the room, wearing his usual grin. Sakura had to grin back. Though she wouldn't admit it to anyone, especially not Ino, who would probably get mad at her and accuse her of being a fair-weather friend, Naruto was her favourite visitor. He came every day to tell her of news from the outside world, touching and colouring it with his customary humour, of course, to the point where it was mostly fiction. Some days he would generously bring them each a cup ramen, though he would always finish his first and then eye hers so hungrily that she always gave in and let him have her half-full cup. Today was not such a day; he instead presented her with the tiniest teddy bear imaginable. Sakura held the miniscule thing, the size of a golf ball, in her palm, and stared at it blankly.

"I won it," Naruto announced proudly. "It was the school fair yesterday, and I won it just for you, Sakura-chan!"

"Um… Arigato, Naruto. Domo arigato gozaimasu." She said with a small smile, and she meant it. Though it was a puny thing, she felt her heart lift with gratitude. Winning it was always so much more special than just buying it.

After Naruto left, Sasuke visited. Sakura was confused when she realised she had called him "Sasuke" when he'd entered. Not Sasuke-kun. Sasuke. When she asked, he told her "Naruto-dobe" had spent two hours, the entire contents of his frog bank, and the last of his brain cells trying to win a gigantic bear for her. In the end, he had ended up with the minute one, but was as proud as if he had accomplished his original goal.

"How did he use up the last of his brain cells?" asked Sakura. Sasuke smirked.

"It was one of those games where you try to toss a ball into a ring. On the first try he aimed too high and it bounced off the ceiling and hit him on the head."

He left soon after. Sakura waited anxiously for another visitor, but none came. She sank back into sleep.

She never knew how long she had slept when she woke up. Her waking hours were so irregular she had stopped trying to even keep track of the date. All she knew when she woke up was that Naruto was back, with ramen.

"I'm not hungry," she told him truthfully. He looked dejected at first at her refusal, and then cheered up when it dawned on him that now he could eat her share as well. He talked a mile a minute at her through his mouthfuls of noodles, and ended his stories with the news that a nurse had told him she wouldn't have to stay in here much longer.

He broke off abruptly when he saw the tears start to slide down her cheek. "What's wrong? Sakura-chan!" he panicked.

Sakura tried to stop crying, but couldn't. Somehow the bear had triggered this first bit of hypersensitivity, and now the news that she would be able to leave soon cracked her rational self. It was always Naruto that brought the cheer to these dull days, always Naruto that had been so nice to her, was always happy and funny. Sometimes it annoyed her that he never got down, but deep inside she envied him for it. "Nothing… wrong," she assured him, wiping her green eyes. "There's something in my eye," she lied.

Naruto was concerned. "I'll look," he said, leaning close to peer worriedly into her eyes. It would have made her laugh, or clobber him over the head (depending on her mood) other times, at how he fussed over her, but this time, she did something that surprised her as much as him. He had been so sweet, through this whole ordeal. Now, he was too close not to take advantage of this. She couldn't help it.

She kissed him.

END OF FLASHBACK (back to Ino's POV):

Ino smirked to herself when she remembered Sakura telling her of the hospital incident the first time. She had thought Sakura had been playing a trick on her at first, and when she saw the other girl was serious, she wasn't sure if she was going to faint or die laughing. But she stopped making fun of Sakura when she saw how happy she was with Naruto. And she started envying her when she realised Sasuke talked to Sakura more and seemed to like her more now that she was only friendly towards him; it was this that had made Ino stop gushing over him as well. Ino was also jealous of the fact that Sakura had managed to get over him so easily, with the realisation that she liked Naruto. She wished she could find someone she liked more than Sasuke, and just get over him like that, too. But that wasn't going to happen. She was still infatuated with Sasuke, and he was still totally indifferent.

Speaking of Sasuke… Ino looked up again when she heard his voice, and she realised he was no longer alone; he had been stopped by a passing girl. Ino scowled before realising it wasn't part of his fan club, it was a girl who must be at least four years older than him. As she got closer to the two, Ino recognized her as one of their school's graduates from two years ago, when she had been in grade nine. The girl's named eluded her at the moment, but she had been well-known in their school, even throughout the younger grades, as the head photographer for the yearbooks. She had long black hair and a pale, pleasant face.

"Hey. It's Sasuke-kun, right?" asked the older girl cheerfully. _Ayamae, _Ino remembered. _Masashi Ayamae. _

"Just Sasuke will suffice," Sasuke replied icily. The girl laughed.

"Just like your brother, I see. That's what I wanted to ask you about. Just to make sure you're the right Sasuke… your brother is Uchiha Itachi? Graduated the same year as me?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I thought so. You look like him. Man, your brother is a doll," Ayamae laughed. "So where's he living now? I haven't seen him around. Did he move?"

Sasuke looked at her coldly with his dark eyes. "He doesn't want annoying girls fawning over him all day. You're just like the rest of them, aren't you?"

Ayamae faltered in her happy chatter. "Wha –no!" Her hand floated up to her mouth, her index finger crooked and held to her lower lip in distress. "No, that's not it, really! Just, I'm taking courses to become a journalist along with a professional photographer, and I've got this project to design a layout for a journal about graduates from Chiisai Hayashi High who've gone far and are succeeding well in what they've trained for, are getting known… you know… and, well… your brother is a definite; he's a hero among young scientists. I just haven't really kept in touch with him since we graduated and now I don't know where to find him."

"Hn." Sasuke seemed to be thinking of if he should believe her or not. Finally he shrugged. "Well, I'll tell you you're pretty much out of luck. He's in university. Where is irrelevant," he said as she opened her mouth. "It's far."

Ayamae closed her mouth, looking faintly disappointed. "Oh. Okay." She turned to go, and then turned back to him, smiling cheerfully again. "Gosh, but you look a lot like your brother. Only I'd say you're even cuter. Too bad you're a bit young for me, ne?"

Sasuke gave her his customary cool glance and shrugged. "I'm going to be late for school," he said, and continued walking.

"Bai-bai!" called Ayamae, waving at his back.

Ino caught up with Sasuke as they neared their school. "A bit old for you, isn't she?" she asked innocently.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder quickly at her, taken by surprise. When what she had said registered in his mind, he went, "pft," and turned back around.

"She seemed to like you. Don't you think she's pretty, though? There's nothing wrong with liking older women, don't worry," teased Ino.

Sasuke glared at the blonde girl. Ino decided she'd better change the topic.

"So… grade ten! I'm not very enthusiastic about it, to be truthful. No more days at the beach… my tan's going to be completely gone in no time…" Ino sighed wistfully, and then realised she had just said that out loud. She didn't want to talk about girl issues around Sasuke! She cleared her throat awkwardly. "So, are you joining the soccer team again this year?" she asked Sasuke, who shrugged.

"I might," he said vaguely. Ino took this to mean yes. "Are you cheerleading again?"

"No," Ino said flatly. She knew the rest of the cheerleaders would be mad at her for quitting, as she was their captain, but she was exasperated about having to keep kicking all the other cheerleaders (except Sakura) in the butts, so to speak, to get them to cheer for the _team, _and not just Sasuke. "I joined the girls' soccer team, though." She told him. "Sakura joined volleyball."

"She quit, too?" asked Sasuke. He was unusually talkative this morning, to Ino's enjoyment. He smirked. "The cheerleaders are screwed."

Ino agreed. The captain and co-captain both quitting the team in the same year… Sakura and Ino would have to hope they didn't get mobbed in any dark corners. But once the remaining cheerleaders got over the shock that they didn't have anyone to keep them in order, there would be general delight in the realisation that now there would be tryouts for new captains, which all of them would enter.

"Hey, who's that?" Ino asked suddenly, as they entered the school yard and she spotted a girl with short purple-black hair standing awkwardly beside Neji, Lee and Tenten, looking a little left out. She seemed to cringe towards Neji most, as if everyone was trying to kill her and he would protect her. "Is she Neji's girlfriend or something?" she asked with a frown. Tenten would be disappointed if that were so; all the girls knew Tenten liked him.

"Hardly, as she's his cousin," said Sasuke.

"How do you know?"

"Just a guess. He told me over the summer that his cousin was moving here this fall, and she looks a lot like him."

"Yeah, that's true…" Ino looked sympathetically at the girl holding her two index fingers together nervously. "I'm going to go say hi," she said, veering towards the group. Sasuke drifted off to join his two main friends: Naruto and Sakura.

The girl gasped as Ino tapped her on the shoulder. "Huh?" she said in fright, turning around.

"Ohayo gozaimasu," said Ino cheerfully. "You're new here, aren't you?"

"Uh… h…hai," stuttered the girl. The three she was standing by had turned to see who was there, and waved at her.

"Hi, Ino," said Tenten cheerfully, while Neji and Lee nodded in greeting.

"Hi," responded Ino.

The girl had seemed to relax a bit. "You're I-Ino? My name's… Hinata," she said shyly.

"So you're new… I guess you don't have your schedule yet, do you?" Ino asked. Hinata shook her head. "You should go get it. Do you want me to show you the principal's office?"

"U-um… okay…" Hinata looked over her shoulder as they started towards the huge, red brick building, perhaps hoping to see her cousin coming with her for protection, but the three stayed where they were, barely taking notice as Hinata left.

Ino tried to start conversation as they walked, hoping to break through the girl's shyness. "So, where'd you move from?"

Hinata muttered something unintelligible. "Pardon?" asked Ino.

"Tsumetai," Hinata said, a bit louder. (A/N: snicker… there's one of those dumb town names… man, I am really abusing the Japanese language here…)

"Oh yeah? I've been there! It's really nice!" Hinata smiled timidly back as Ino grinned. "So how come you moved?"

Hinata's face closed; her smile disappeared. Her eyes were lidded as she looked down and muttered, "My… my dad, got a job here… so…"

Ino put an arm around her sympathetically. "Oh, I understand. I would be so pissed at my parents if they made me leave all my friends and everything."

Hinata shrugged slightly and muttered something so quietly all Ino managed to hear was "not… many friends… and… parents… really strict…"

Ino decided she'd better stop talking of this subject. They were approaching the principal's office now anyways. "Here's the principal's office," she announced. "I'll wait for you here, okay?"

Hinata looked terrified at the news that Ino wouldn't be coming in with her, but Ino gave her a big grin and the peace sign, sticking her tongue out playfully. Hinata managed to return a weak smile, and turned to open the door.

Hinata's POV:

Her hand trembled as she laid it on the cool metallic door handle. What was the principal like? If Ino, who had been so nice up until now, wouldn't even come in with her, he must be really scary. Hinata remembered her old principal, a tall, thin man with grey hair and a Hitler moustache, and who yelled louder than even her dad, and her knees trembled. What if this one was like that… or worse?

The door opened and she edged through, closing it with a sense of imminent doom. The sharp click seemed to tell her there was no going back, and Hinata looked around the room nervously. Astonishment mingled with her terror.

The principal's office was a mess. Stacks of paper lay haphazardly on top of filing cabinets with their drawers wide open and spilling a variety of junk; little decorations and pieces of jewelry were scattered across the wide, polished mahogany desk by the window. Hinata would have though the ornaments were confiscated items from students, but shouldn't they be in a drawer or something? Several photographs in frames stood on various surfaces, and a large bottle of what looked suspiciously like sake stood on the corner of the desk.

Finally, the most surprising thing was the top of a blonde head resting on top of two arms on the cluttered desk, the shoulders of the owner rising and falling as it snored. Hinata gulped, and cleared her throat.

The head shot up. An attractive young woman with a diamond-shaped tattoo on her forehead wiped drool from the corner of her mouth as she looked around sheepishly. She wore a casual white button-up shirt, which might have looked suitable for work if it weren't so rumpled from sleep, and a red neck tie, wrenched in a sadistic bow around her neck that made Hinata feel like she was strangling just looking at it. "Wha -?" the lady said dazedly, and spied Hinata looking shocked. "Oh. Hi," she said sleepily, still blinking groggily. "I was afraid it was one of the teachers; they always get mad when they catch me napping. You won't tell them, will you?" she asked Hinata.

"Uh, um! Of course not!" she stuttered. The principal was a woman? And one like this especially… she acted more like a naughty student than the director of the school. The principal smiled confidentially and heaved herself up from her desk with a gusty sigh, as if it took outrageous amounts of energy to greet a student. She had a pleated skirt, the same shade of red as her neck tie, and Hinata saw she wore a considerable amount of slim banded rings on her fingers as she extended a hand for Hinata to shake.

"I'm Tsunade," she introduced as they shook hands.

"I-I'm Hyuga Hinata. I'm new… I just needed a… timetable, so…"

Tsunade was already rummaging through the drawers behind her desk, digging furiously so that Hinata knew they must be as cluttered and unorganized as the rest of the office. "Hyuga…Hyuga…" she muttered as she now leafed through papers. Her fingers paused suddenly. "Hinata. There you are," she said triumphantly, plucking a sheaf of paper and tugging furiously to free it from the drawer. It ripped slightly as she added force to extract it from whatever was piled no top, but Tsunade didn't seem to notice or care. She held it out to Hinata, who took it quickly.

"Arigato, Tsunade-sama," she said, hastily turning to scuttle from the office.

"Bye! Have fun in our school!" Tsunade called after her. When Hinata turned as she shut the door behind her, she saw the lady already settling her head back on top of her arms as she prepared to go back to sleep at her desk. Nope, she didn't seem so bad.

Shikamaru's POV:

Shikamaru yawned widely as he leaned against the chain link fence that surrounded the school yard. It was bad enough that he had to wake up so early, after two months of being used to sleeping in late, for the first day of school, but that he'd missed the bus and had to walk was sheer torture. _Damn, school's a nuisance, _he thought with a sigh. So much noise, clutter, hurry, rushing from class to class… no time to just relax. And people were always pressuring him to join a sports team, and laughing at him when he joined the chess or math club. It was lucky that he had Chouji as a friend; he could use not wanting to leave him behind as an excuse not to do extracurricular sports.

It wasn't that he was out of shape or anything; he just liked to take things easy rather than running around after a ball or walking things with sticks. In grade eight he had dared to join the soccer team, as it was the going thing, but he hadn't stayed for even a week. It was hell. It would have been bad enough just doing the sport, but no, there had to be cheerleaders waving their silly fluffy pompoms and jumping around like deranged fleas, shrieking their heads off, super-athletes like Lee and Sasuke to show them all up, and then, to top it all, their Coach was a _girl. _And not just any girl; a totally sadistic one, by the name of Mitarashi Anko. Her reputation was as the worst P.E. teacher or coach you could get, even more hardcore than Gai, and she lived up to it.

Nope, no amount of pressure or blackmailing was getting him to join extracurricular sports this year.

Shikamaru drew his crumpled schedule out of his pocket and looked at it. At the top it read: Nara, Shikamaru. Grade: ten. Homeroom teacher: Asuma. Student Code: FJH. His locker number was in the corner: 182. _Better put my stuff away before the bell rings and the halls are all crowded, _he decided. He glanced around to see if Chouji was anywhere, but couldn't see him. It would be futile to search through the throngs of students anyway. The Nara child wove his way through masses of people. One large boy stepped back just as Shikamaru was passing behind him, and he stepped sideways quickly, colliding with someone.

"Watch it!" They snapped. Shikamaru found himself being glared at by a slightly older girl with four ponytails (?) and a face that would be pretty enough if she didn't have that murderous expression.

"Hah… just what I need, to get on the bad side of a psycho chick…" he muttered to himself, sweating.

"What was that?" she snapped.

"Nothing, nothing…" _This is why I don't like girls, _Shikamaru said to himself. _They're so bossy! And ones like this just freak me out. _"So sorry, my lady," he said mockingly, hurriedly escaping before she could sock him or something.

He pushed open one of the double doors to the school and looked at the nearest locker number. 254. That would mean his was pretty far away, to the left. He finally found it and pulled it open, breathing a sigh of relief when he found it clean. Last year he had been left a locker that was a total mess; swear words scrawled across the inside of the door, gobs of gum stuck to the coat hanger, and something that looked horrendously like dried puke cemented on the bottom. He had carried his backpack with him the whole year.

He plunked his backpack into the locker and unzipped his coat; it was warm in the school. As he began to tape his schedule onto the inside of the door, he paused, frowning. He hadn't even looked at his schedule when it had been sent to him over the summer, but now something looked wrong. The first square on the grid read:

Math11

Sarutobi Asuma

201

_Eleven? _He thought, frowning in confusion. _They must have messed it up. _He scanned his schedule for any more mistakes, and his frown deepened. English _eleven _with Hatake Kakashi. Science _eleven _with Namiashi Raido. Art _eleven _with Gekkou Hayate (A/N: As this is alternate reality… Hayate is still alive! Yaay!...:does a little dance: ...:sees people watching:...:clears throat nervously, sweatdrops:). Only P.E. was in a grade ten class. _P.E_… he looked quickly at the square again, and groaned. He had Anko this year. Gai had been tough enough on them last year, but no, the school seemed to want him dead by the end of the year. At least situations were different: there would be more students in the normal gym class than on the soccer team, which would give Anko less time to torture each student, and there would be no cheerleaders. But actually it didn't make much difference, as in a normal P.E. class there would be girls where there weren't in soccer. It was either soccer, where the girls cheered, or normal gym, where the girls played. _I guess they're basically even, _Shikamaru thought, taking his combination lock from the small pouch in his back pack and slamming his locker door shut. Instead of having taped his schedule up, he still held it crunched up in his hand. He would have to ask Tsunade-sama about it.

He passed by Ino and a girl he didn't know as he made his way towards the principal's office. He opened the door as loudly as he could when he entered, as past experiences told him she was probably sleeping, and this would be a good way to wake her up.

Unfortunately, she was wide awake, fiddling with a pen as she slouched in her chair. She frowned at him as he closed the door unnecessarily loudly behind him. "Nara-san, show a little courtesy, please," she told him.

"Gomen, Tsunade-sama," Shikamaru apologized, with an inward grimace. "I came to ask –"

She held a hand up. "First open that door and close it _gently,_" she ordered. Shikamaru scowled as he obeyed. _She must be in a bad mood, wanting a power struggle_, he thought grumpily.

When he had done as she'd bid, she settled back in her chair with an air of exaggerated satisfaction. _As if me closing that door quietly really did anything for her, _he thought in irritation. "Tsunade-sama, I came to ask about my schedule," he told her politely.

"Yes, I thought you would," she said with a smile. "First thing first, I'll tell you none of that is a mistake."

"But –" Shikamaru started, and paused. "You're bumping me up a grade?"

Tsunade nodded serenely, and added with a touch of her wry humour, "You were unusually slow in figuring that out. I would have expected more from you, Shikamaru."

Apparently she wasn't in such a bad mood after all. _Women… so unpredictable, _he thought with a slight sigh.

Tsunade leaned forward, her elbows resting on her desk and fingers laced together. "Shikamaru," she said confidentially. "If you are uncomfortable with such settings, you can come to me anytime and I'll put you back in a grade ten class. I don't want you to be intimidated, but I think this is a good idea, to let you progress at your own speed. Your parents gave their permission for this, and I think it is for the best too, as to not stifle your natural intelligence, but if you want to stay with people you know…"

"Um… are there any other kids my age in the grade eleven classes?" he wanted to know.

Tsunade nodded. "Haruno Sakura has also been put ahead a grade in English, and… let me see…" she thought for a second. "Oh, yes. Aburame Shino –his name evaded me; he's so quiet- is in your art class. You both are excellent artists," she said warmly.

Shikamaru smiled at her compliment, but the news that Sakura and Shino were in two of his new classes wasn't all that much of a difference. Sakura was pretty annoying, though she and Ino both had matured considerably over the last few years, and he didn't really talk with her. Shino was definitely as much of an artist as Shikamaru, maybe even better, but, though they both had a passion for drawing, they didn't acknowledge their similarities and hang out or anything. Shino crept Shikamaru out. He seemed to be able to talk to bugs, and why did he wear those sunglasses, even in class? Well, aside from in Gai's class; there was every reason to wear sunglasses there. What kind of whitener did he use, anyway?

Tsunade brought the teen's mind back from its wanderings. "Well? If you need some time to decide…"

"No, no. I'll accept," Shikamaru said, feeling treacherous towards Chouji. "I'll be fine."

The bell rang.

Kiba's POV:

"Akamaru! Go _home!" _Kiba yelled. The small dog whined and looked pitifully up at him, but Kiba forced himself not to be taken in by the "poor puppy" act. "I can't take you to school, boy," he said for the fiftieth time. "Dogs aren't allowed." He turned to walk away, and, like during his last attempt, heard the skitter of the dog's claws on the sidewalk after him. He turned in frustration. Akamaru sat down to blink at him coyly.

"Akamaru, you've already made me miss the bus. I'm going to be late enough for school as is. I don't want to have to go back home with you to lock you in again." _Besides, you'd just escape again, _he added to himself. Last time he had been two blocks from his house when he'd noticed he wasn't alone. He'd brought the dog back and locked him in his room, but, as always, Akamaru somehow got out, and here they were, merely a block from the school, and in the same predicament.

Kiba growled at the small dog. "Go home," he snarled. Akamaru didn't budge. "I'll lock you in my locker if you don't," he said. Akamaru whined and thumped his tail against the road, but still didn't move. _He must know I'm bluffing, _Kiba reasoned. He didn't let it even come close to being a possibility that the dog didn't understand him. Akamaru was much too smart for that; he understood English (A/N: actually, that would be Japanese, as that's what they speak. My bad) as well as his owner.

The Inuzuka child gritted his teeth as he continued to walk to school, his dog happily trotting behind him. He couldn't turn back home; his efforts to keep Akamaru there would be futile, and it would only make him later for school. There was nothing else he could do but keep walking. "Well… you've obviously won, so I may as well not make you suffer," Kiba sighed, stopping in his tracks. The dog beside him looked up expectantly, barking happily when Kiba picked him up and unzipped the top part of his parka to let the dog rest beneath his chin, his customary spot. "You are so spoiled," Kiba said with a smile as he continued walking.

The school grounds were empty, and the side door Kiba tried was locked, which was too bad, as it was closest to Ebisu's Math class, which he had first, according to his schedule. _Guess I should go to my locker first, anyways, _Kiba thought, changing direction to head for the main doors, which were always open.

Tsunade was waiting by them for tardies, as usual. She gave Kiba an exasperated smile. "Late on the first day, Kiba? And…" her eyes drifted down to Akamaru's head poking out of his jacket and she frowned. "Pets aren't allowed in school, Inuzuka-san. You'll have to take him home."

"What do you think I've been trying to do? Why do you think I'm late for school?" Kiba yelled. The principal's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he added quickly, "Tsunade-sama."

Overlooking his rudeness, Tsunade directed her displeasure towards the dog. "I see. He's an escape artist?"

"Yeah."

"Well… I guess you could chain him up outside," Tsunade told him.

"But…" Kiba protested while Akamaru whined, but Tsunade looked at him so dangerously he shut his mouth. "Well… I don't have a leash with me."

"I'm sure we'll find something," Tsunade assured him. "I'll take care of this; you get to class."

* * *

Translations for the few Japanese phrases/words used: 

Arigato –thank you

Domo arigato gozaimasu –thank you very much

Ohayo gozaimasu –good morning

Hai –yes

Gomen –sorry; pardon me

-san –Ms., Mr., Mrs.

-sama –Ms., Mr., Mrs. (formal)

Bai-bai –(self explanatory. I think we can all figure it out.)

Well? Hope you liked it! I know I'm unlike the majority of people on this site, in the sense that I'm really descriptive and therefore the story is a bit slow-paced in some peoples' eyes, but, though its this feature that loses the interest of many, I know there must be some more people like me who enjoy reading this kind of story more. Please review if you liked it; the more reviews I get, the sooner I'll update.


	2. Chapter 2

The asterisk for some reason doesn't work on here, so for the one part where there is a footnote, I put a (1) instead. Just so you know.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Just my original character. The invisible one. Who doesn't say or do anything.

* * *

CHAPTER 2 

Naruto watched the tall man's movements carefully. First he would push at his sunglasses, look at the class with a disapproving air, as if they were doing something wrong, and glance at the sheaf of paper he held in his hand before looking back at them and continuing. It was that glance at the paper that created the opening Naruto needed. The blonde boy's fingers drummed impatiently along the side of the origami he held in his lap, arm muscles tensed for action. He was waiting for the opening.

There was the little pushing of the round sunglasses farther up on his nose. There was the disgruntled look. And…_Now! _Naruto hoisted himself up in his chair and flicked the airplane.

The timing would have been perfect, were it not for the interruption that just _had _to come right then. The door in the side of the classroom opened; Ebisu looked up an instant before the airplane hit him between the eyes.

"Naruto!" he roared. His little black sunglasses were askew. "Do not start another school year this way!" he spluttered, fingers clawing the air, as Naruto threw his head back in hysterical laughter. Even if he had been caught, due to the interruption, it was well worth it.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Sakura suppressed a laugh. Chouji, sitting by himself and sneaking chips into his mouth from a little bag hidden in his lap, smiled around a bulging mouth. Hinata, who was between Ino and Tenten, flinched and looked at the spazzing teacher with wide eyes; she had thought Naruto's antics funny, but the teacher's reaction scared her. Shino, as usual, didn't make a reaction of any sort, except to give Kiba a small nod of greeting as he entered. The majority of the rest of the class laughed along with Naruto.

"Inuzuka-san," Ebisu said darkly, already in a bad mood. "Why are you late?" he barked.

"I had to rescue a lost herd of sheep," Kiba said seriously as he took the seat next to Shino. Hinata, behind him, almost giggled.

"Do not joke around with me!" raved Ebisu. "Do you want detention along with Uzumaki at lunch?"

"_Nani!" _Naruto cried. "Detention for a paper airplane?" Ebisu ignored him.

"Well, Inuzuka?"

"Gomen, sensei. It will not happen again, providing the sheep –"

"None of your sheep wit," snarled Ebisu. "Where was I –ah…" he pushed his glasses up on his nose, glared at the class one last time, glanced down at his paper, and began to pace the front of the classroom as he continued. "'Math ten will be covering various new conceptions, as well as reviewing matter you have previously learned –' "

"Pst! Sakura-chan!" hissed Naruto. Sakura, in front of him, turned her head around.

"What?" she whispered.

"What do you have next?"

He expected her to look at her schedule, but he was forgetting who he was talking to. This was _Sakura. _She'd already memorized it all. "Clothing and Textiles. With Shizune-sensei."

"PigLady-san? Sewing?" Naruto sagged. _Darn, _he thought miserably. _I should have asked her at the end of last year which elective she was taking, so I could have taken the same one._

"Why? What elective do you have?" Sakura continued to whisper. She spied Naruto's timetable and tried to read it upside-down. "Metalworks? Hm. Since when do you like –"

"Uzumaki-san, do not make this worse for yourself! Haruno-san, I am surprised at you!" Sakura leapt like she had been stung by a wasp and spun around in her seat, apologizing profusely. Ebisu glared at her but, as she was a star student, didn't punish her. This class was not going well at all; if he didn't win their respect by the first week, they would walk all over him for the rest of the year. And the only way to win a difficult class' respect was to intimidate them. Basic teacher stuff.

"Why did he have to give us homework on the first day?" moaned Naruto as he walked out of the classroom with Sakura and Sasuke. "Isn't there a rule somewhere that the first day is only for reading course outlines and being generally boring?"

"No," the other two said as one.

"Well, there should be," he grumbled. "It's what they usually do."

"I'm going this way," Sakura said to the two boys, veering right and heading towards the stairs to the lower level. "Bye!" she blew a kiss to Naruto, who blushed. He still hadn't gotten over how Sakura openly displayed that she no longer hated him, to put it mildly. By the time he had recovered enough to wave back at her, she had disappeared.

"What do you have, Sasuke?" he asked the raven-haired boy.

"Auto mechanics."

"Hey. Me, too, Uchiha," came a voice from behind them. They turned to encounter Neji. "What do you have, Uzumaki?" asked the white-eyed boy.

"Eh… metalworks…" Naruto scratched his head. "I… didn't know there was auto mechanics…"

"Hah, have fun, dobe," Sasuke smirked. "You'll be making candlesticks and picture frames."

"Nani!"

"Don't worry, Naruto," said Tenten, clapping a hand on his shoulder, as Sasuke and Neji walked off. "They don't know what they're talking about; I have a cousin who took metalworks, and he never had to make prissy stuff like that. He made a crossbow once."

"I'm taking woodworks," announced Lee from beside her, cutting off Naruto's amazed, "Really?". "That's considered even sillier."

"Thanks," Naruto said gratefully. "Hey… who's that, anyways?" he asked the two suddenly as Hinata walked past alone, clutching her books to her. "She was with you guys this morning, right?"

"Yeah. That's Hinata, Neji's cousin," said Lee.

"She's really shy," said Tenten. "And speaking of her, I'm going to go walk with her; I don't know what her elective is yet." She rushed off. Naruto and Lee started towards the metal- and wood works rooms.

Hinata looked at her schedule once again, just to confirm the first elective she would be "floating" through was indeed drama. She was scared she would walk into the wrong classroom and get laughed at. Ino had wanted her to come to sewing with her, but, though Hinata would have loved to, to be in a class with her new friend, her schedule said she was to go to Drama.

"Hey, Hinata-san," said someone behind her. Hinata turned to see Tenten smiling at her.

"Watcha got?"

"Drama," Hinata said.

"Really? Sogon! Me too!" exclaimed the other girl. "It's way at the other end of the school, so we'd better hurry, though."

Eventually Tenten steered them into the spacious classroom, each wall covered with mirrors, posters, and costumes. Several squashy armchairs were placed against the far wall, but all were occupied, as the two girls were the last ones in. There was no desk, and Kurenai-sensei sat on the floor by the far right wall taking attendance. She looked up briefly when Tenten and Hinata walked in.

"Ah, the new Hyuga child," she said. "Welcome."

"I like to sit over here," Tenten said, directing Hinata to the left. The seats were already taken, so they sat on the floor like Kurenai.

"So, why'd you take drama? You like acting?" Tenten asked.

"U-um… actually… the school gave me a "Floating" system, so for half of the first term, I'll be going through all the different elective classes, and then I decide which I liked most for… the s -second half…"

"What?" Tenten yelped. "But you're the only person I know in this class! Well… not the only one I _know_; I know those girls over there –" she nodded towards a group of giggling girls, and made a face " –but I don't particularly like them."

Hinata smiled shyly at the knowledge that Tenten had accepted her and liked her already.

"Well," Kurenai said, getting up, "I guess you all know what the first day is for… I talk to you about class rules and expectations, all that..." several people groaned, and she gave a wry smile. "I don't like it any more than you do."

"Then don't do it," A slightly dim-looking boy suggested wittily.

"Oh, excellent idea," Kurenai said. "I suppose you will back me up in a protest when I get fired?"

When there was no answer, she proceeded to hand out pieces of paper and read the contents out loud. "In drama ten…"

Hinata and Tenten spent the class playing Janken.

>> 

Shikamaru barely made it to art class on time. First he'd had to go to the bathroom, and then he had forgotten he was in the grade eleven Art, and walked into the wrong classroom. He'd just sat in a solitary seat near Shino –even if they weren't friends, at least they knew each other- when the bell for class to start rang. _Phew… _he thought, looking up at the teacher, who was muttering to himself, trying to memorize the students' names according to attendance. He coughed a lot and had dark rings under his eyes, giving him a not altogether healthy appearance. As Gekkou Hayate was a teacher of higher grades, Shikamaru had never been in one of his classes before, and was wary of what he might be like. His appearance and demeanor didn't seem too menacing at least, and he wasn't a troublesome female, so Shikamaru felt it was pretty safe.

"Okay, class," Hayate said calmly, cutting through the chatter. The students fell silent, except for a few who merely dropped their voices to loud whispers. "Quiet," Hayate repeated, his eyes falling on said pupils. "That includes you, Echizen (A/N: I just stole a last name from Prince of Tennis, because I needed one for some minor character, hehe), and you there," he pointed at another chattering boy, who fell silent reluctantly. One person dropped their voice down another notch, but their voice continued to buzz across the empty classroom. Hayate turned his head to the disrupter and sighed. "Temari, I'm hoping I won't have to fail you again."

Temari started in surprise; Shikamaru twitched. _That girl again? _He thought in dismay, eyeing the blonde who he had just noticed sitting a few rows over and ahead of him.

"I don't care either way, I don't need art to graduate," she said, bristling slightly in indignation at being made the center of ridicule.

"Then why'd you take it? Hn?"

Temari shrugged. "I won't fail this year," she muttered, and looked coolly down at her paper in a not all too polite, but not quite rude enough to get her in trouble, gesture that she thought the conversation was over. She appeared indifferent, but Shikamaru saw a slight tinge of awkwardness in her expression.

"I hope not," Hayate replied, directing his gaze back to the rest of the class. "Now –" he coughed into his fist and glanced down at his paper. "Roll call. Aburame, Shino?"

"Here," Shino called into his jacket collar. Hayate made a tick on his paper before continuing.

While he listed off the names, Shikamaru scrutinized their owners. They were typical: bubbly, gossiping girls, guys guffawing and slouching in their seats, the shy or simply aloof, one of those being Temari, staying silent and examined their fingernails.

It would be a long year.

Hayate was different from the teachers Shikamaru had had previous years. He read the class outline, but it was quick, and when he was finished, he coughed and looked at them through his tired eyes. "I don't like wasted time, so we'll start on our first assignment today. Everyone get out a pencil and eraser."

The class groaned. Hayate waited until the flurry of movement, as students dug through binders and backpacks to retrieve a pencil, died down, and handed the front student in each row six pieces of paper; enough to be handed back and distributed evenly amongst them.

"Um," Hayate instructed, with a cough into his fist, "Your assignment is to draw your favourite subject, or thing to do, in school. Please stay within guidelines," he said, casting a sideways glance at a group of boys who had started to snicker. "And… begin. It doesn't have to be fancy; just make sure it's finished by the end of class."

Shikamaru stared down at the blank piece of paper in front of him. Shino, also, looked unenthusiastic about this. Most girls, he suspected, would draw themselves talking with friends, or sewing or something, while the boys would draw scenes involving sports. Shikamaru couldn't say any of that interested him immensely. Maybe the talking with friends wasn't so bad, but how boring was that?

Finally, he picked up his pencil, made a few short, choppy lines to start himself off, and started to draw.

"Okay, class. The bell's going to go soon, so please put your pencils down."

Shikamaru looked up in surprise. Had the hour of class passed already? It had flown by. He stretched back in his seat and examined his picture critically. It would do. On the wide sheet, he had depicted himself slouching wearily onto the bus. He had drawn his hand dangling by his side, with the watch on it reading 3:30, so it would be clear that he was going home.

Hayate's mouth twitched as he collected Shikamaru's drawing. He continued his round of the room collecting their papers, but stopped when he came to Temari's desk, staring with a creased brow at the picture on her desk.

"What?" she asked grumpily. "Just take it." She thrust the paper at him. Hayate shook his head slightly, in exasperation or perhaps perplexity, and continued walking,

When the bell rang, and the class swarmed towards the door, Shikamaru heard Temari snarling at someone who had laughed at her drawing.

>> 

Sakura clutched her binder to her chest as she was jostled by the crowd. "We have Science, now," she told Ino. The blonde looked over at her with a frown.

"No, I have English." Her look changed to disappointment. "You're not in the same class as me?"

Sakura fumbled through her pocket and dug out a neatly folded timetable. "I guess not," she said, frowning also. "I have Science now. With –" her eyes went dead "-Gai-sensei," she finished in a monotone. Ino laughed.

"Sucky. But that means you'll have to have English some other time, which means that's another class where I'll be all bored and have no one to talk to," Ino said in regret.

"Pft," Sakura laughed. "Yamanaka Ino, bored? Come one. You always have someone to talk to." Ino grinned ruefully, and didn't contradict her.

"Well, have fun looking at two-inch thick eyebrows for an hour!" Ino called tauntingly as Sakura turned to go a different direction.

"Nya," the pink-haired girl sneered, sticking her tongue out at Ino. "At least he's not perverted nor have a creepy eye!"

Ino's grin withered.

>> 

When Hinata, with Tenten's guidance, found her way to the English room, she was exhausted. The English room was right above the Math room—that is, on the farthest end of the school from the Drama room just like Math, but also on the second floor, meaning they'd had to sprint up stairs as well as across the whole school to get into class just barely on time.

Tenten clutched the side of the door frame, her tongue hanging out in only slightly exaggerated fatigue. "If," she panted to Hinata, whose face was flushed from their sprints and speed-walking, "I didn't want to spend my life in prison, I would go find whoever designed my timetable to be so hectic, and kill them."

"Wouldn't that be Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked timidly.

Tenten's eyes glinted. "Then I'd yank the elastics out of her pigtails and strangle her with them." She grinned evilly at Hinata, who had to laugh shyly.

"It's okay, you probably won't need to hurry, anyways," someone said behind them. They turned to see Neji approaching the door.

"Why, Neji-kun?" asked Hinata, blinking.

"Our teacher is Hatake-san," he said blatantly. He turned to Tenten. "Wouldn't that explain it?"

Tenten's cheeks were suddenly coloured bright pink, and Hinata wasn't sure if it was all from the run across the school. "Yeah. It would. I didn't think of that… or I thought, well, he might be on time one day…"

"No way," Neji said. He turned to Hinata. "Hinata, you don't need to worry about being late for this class. You'll always be before Kakashi-sensei." (A/N: I wasn't sure if I should put the whole branch family/main family thing about the Hyugas in here, but I decided against it… so, Neji doesn't need to call his cousin Hinata-sama, he can just call her by her name.)

"I… I will?"

"Yeah. I can't believe I forgot." Tenten scanned the room for a good seat. A clump of five seats sat empty by the closest wall, at the back. She headed for them, sitting in the one behind Gaara. To Gaara's left sat Lee, and Neji sat behind him. Hinata sat on the other side of Tenten, behind a boy wearing a parka with a fur collar, a grin that was just as mischievous as that Naruto boy's, and a touch more… wicked, and had a red triangle of paint on each cheek. He had sat in front of her in Math, too, she remembered. Talking about sheep. She smiled, remembering Ebisu's aggravated reactions at his flippant remarks. She couldn't remember the boy's name, though. Inuzuka something.

This class was the same as her Math class, as far as she could tell, except that Ino's friend wasn't here, and the boy with red hair and heavy eyeliner in front of Tenten hadn't been in her Math class. Hinata sighed to herself. She wished she knew everyone's names. Not that she would talk to them, probably—not many people talked to her—but she still wished she knew who was who. So far, out of her classmates, the only names she knew were Neji, of course, Tenten, Lee, Naruto, Sasuke—she had heard the black-haired boy's name being called by hordes of girls on the school-ground, so it was hard to forget—and Ino.

Hinata jumped and looked up so fast she felt her neck crick when a hand slammed onto her desk. "Gomen!" sprang from her mouth instinctively, though she had done nothing to be sorry for. It was just her immediate reaction when she thought she was in trouble.

"Hi!" Ino asked, grinning in amusement. Hinata closed her eyes and let out a shuddering sigh of relief. She had thought it was the teacher, mad at her for some reason, or a bully.

"Y-you… sc-scared me… Ino," she gulped, stuttering more than ever. She tried to slow her breathing. Ino looked apologetic.

"Wow, I didn't know you were so jumpy. Sorry. Just wanted to say hi." Ino took the seat behind Hinata, as she was against the wall and there were no more desks beside her.

The boy in front of Hinata had turned around at the commotion. "Why'd you say you were sorry? What did you do? Guilty conscience?" His grin was gone; he looked serious.

"Uh… n-no!" Hinata held her hands up protectively. "I didn't! I just… I w-was startled—I didn't do… I only—"

"You're acting suspicious. You must have done something." He ignored her as she tried to protest, only to find her voice wasn't working, and shook her head violently. He continued to admonish her. "You'd better not cause trouble in school; the disciplinary system around here is _very _harsh. What did you do? You did something, admit it!"

"Kiba, you're scaring her! He's joking, Hinata," Tenten assured her, scowling at Kiba, whose stern expression vanished as he burst into laughter. Hinata felt close to tears. She had believed Kiba the whole time, and now he was laughing.

"Hey, I'm sorry. But you shoulda seen your face," he chuckled. Only then did Hinata realise he wasn't laughing _at _her, he was just laughing, She had to try to stop taking everything so seriously.

"Sh!" someone hissed suddenly. There was a smattering of people who fell silent. Others turned back around in their seats to see what was going on. Hinata looked up and saw a tall man with spiky white hair and wearing a mask entering the room, his face buried in a small orange book. She heard someone whisper "reading his book, the hentai."

The man sat down at his desk and continued to read. The class was deadly silent. Hinata held her breath. Though she couldn't see the teacher's face, as the book was in the way, she had seen, from the side, the mask covering up to his nose. It lent him a mysterious, and possibly sinister air. Hinata wondered if he would be extremely strict, or spastic and raging like Ebisu.

A dropped pin would have echoed across the silent room. The teacher suddenly moved, and Hinata almost flinched.

His hand was moving, like he would point at one of them any second.

His book lowered just a fraction. Hinata could predict the way he would glower at them over the top of it.

The tension built. His hand continued to move slowly towards them.

He flipped the page.

There was another second of stunned silence, and then the room shook in clamour.

"That's all? You sit down and just read? You have a class, you know!" yelled Naruto, practically standing on his desk.

"Yeah, and you shouldn't read naughty books in front of younger people!" Kiba's voice overwhelmed even Naruto's. Hinata thought they were quite alike, both loud and rather unruly.

"Plus you're late! On the first day!" called Lee, cupping his hands around his mouth. "And it's not even first block! How can you be late in the third period?"

"Well," the teacher said, lowering one side of the book so Hinata could see one dark eye peering at them, "I had a class at a different place in the school, and when I was headed this way, an old lady had forgotten why she was here and how she got here, so I had to help her get home."

"Is that the best you can do?" demanded Naruto.

"Yeah, well, I didn't have breakfast this morning… brain food, you know…" the teacher apologized, setting his orange book down the rest of the way. Hinata gasped. Hatake-san's left eye was red, with three black commas around the pupil, and a vivid scar trailing down across it. Hinata gulped and slumped lower in her seat. "What… h-happened to his eye?" she whispered to Ino in fright, turning around to face her.

"Fighting with Gai or something –they're rivals- and Gai –he's a science teacher, as well as a coach, you see- wasn't paying attention to what he was mixing in a glass tube. It exploded somehow, and made that big scar on Kakashi-sensei's face, blinding him. He had to get a false eye."

"But why such a… scary one?"

Ino shrugged. "For show. I dunno."

"Well," Kakashi said, getting to his feet. "If reading offends you," he glanced at Kiba, "we'll just have to start work right away, now won't we?"

There was a general uproar of "no, go ahead and read!" Kakashi's eyes closed cheerily as he smiled.

"So… English ten, hn?" he said serenely, with the air of someone preparing for a long lecture. The class groaned.

It was only fifteen minutes into the class that Kakashi was interrupted. But it wasn't by Naruto this time.

"Now, all of you already know—what was that?" Kakashi's head raised and swiveled towards the window. The class shook itself out of its stupor at the faint sound that could be heard.

"Oww, owwwww…. Awooooooo!"

Hinata saw Kiba's head snap up from its resting place on his desk. "Uhh," he started hesitantly.

"Ow, _raoroooooo!" _

"Inuzuka-san… this wouldn't have something to do with that dog of yours, now would it?" Kakashi groaned, running a hand in exasperation through his spikes of white hair.

"Um. Well, now you mention it…"

There was a sharp _beep _as the intercom clicked on. "Inuzuka Kiba, please report to the main office."

>> 

When Kiba came back into the classroom, only ten minutes of class were left. He looked exhausted.

"What did you do with your dog, K-Kiba-kun?" asked Hinata, curiosity overcoming her shyness. He looked wearily at her.

"Took him home," he said, sitting down and twisting in his seat to look at her while he talked. "Hopefully he stays there this time. I locked—oh, no." His voice trailed off. He was staring at a point over Hinata's shoulder. She turned. Ino, behind her, did too.

At the window at the back of the class, a white dog peered in. A faint scrabbling sound could be heard as he scratched at the window. His nose snuffled at it.

"Inuzuka. Hyuga, Yamanaka, turn around. What are you looking at –no way." Kakashi looked up at the ceiling in disbelief.

"I _told _her it wouldn't make a difference," Kiba muttered quietly.

"I'll have to ask Tsunade about this later…" Kakashi said, scratching the back of his head. At that moment the bell rang. There was the general scrabble to get to the door for lunch, as if it would be going somewhere. Ino, being Ino, was one of the ones elbowing at the other main competitors –Naruto, Tenten, etc. –to get at the door. The first one out, though he did no rushing or anything to ruffle his composure, was Sasuke, as the crowds pretty much just parted for him like he was some kind of God. Neji and Gaara just went with the flow of the crowd, and if anyone jostled them, one glare would have them apologizing straightaway.

Hinata was pinned to the wall, as she was used to, cringing away from the masses of people and waiting 'til they were all gone so she could leave. What she _wasn't _used to was someone suddenly behind her talking into her ear.

"You're too passive," they said. Hinata jumped about three feet high with a gasp.

"_Way _too jumpy, as well," Kiba continued, rolling his eyes. "Look, you don't have to be squashed against the wall if you don't want to. I'm sure you can step on peoples' toes just as well as anyone."

"I don't –"

"Oh, sure you do," Kiba interrupted, as if he knew what she had been going to say. He grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her into the crowd of impatient students. Hinata lifted one arm and held it in front of her face as Kiba yanked her towards the door. She had her eyes closed, but somehow Kiba shielded her from all pushing and elbowing. There were a few seconds of chaos swarming around her, and then, suddenly, they were out of the classroom. It was the first time Hinata could remember not being the last one.

"See?" Kiba grinned, as she blinked around like a gopher suddenly seeing the light of day. "People won't step aside for you if you just stand there. Well, except in the case of Sasuke, but never mind that. You have to fight back."

Hinata nodded, though she really didn't think waiting for an extra minutes or so to leave the classroom was that big a deal. Not worth going through all that trouble trying to beat the rest of the crowd, anyway.

Kiba regarded her silently for a moment, apparently contemplating something. "I think," he said slowly, "you are going to be my little project this year."

And what is _that _supposed to mean? thought Hinata.

"You seem like a nice kid. Just one flaw, and that's being too shy. So it's now my goal for the year to stamp that out of you. Bring out some confidence."

"I don't want –"

"See! Talking back already!" announced Kiba triumphantly. "Excellent. Come on, you want to get to know everyone better?"

It seemed she didn't have an option. She followed him.

>> 

Shikamaru had only started his sandwich, though Chouji, beside him, had nearly finished his lunch already, when his name was called on the loudspeaker.

"Nara Shikamaru, to room 103 please. Nara Shikamaru, room 103."

_That's the art room, _he thought with a small frown, exchanging a glance with Chouji and shrugging. He got up from the cafeteria table regretfully; he had only one class with his friend, and that and lunch would be the only time during the day they could talk.

He finished his sandwich while walking down the hall and was brushing the crumbs from his shirt front when he entered the art room, bowing in greeting to Hayate-san. He started in surprise suddenly when he saw Temari standing to one side. She acknowledged him with a grouchy jerk of the head.

"Now," said Hayate. "I have called you down here for a specific reason: Temari, first off, you are not trying hard enough. I don't want to have to fail you again."

"I'm trying!" she exclaimed indignantly.

_He called us down here to lecture us? _Shikamaru thought in surprise. _What did _I _do wrong?_

"Nara, you aren't in trouble," said Hayate, sounding slightly amused, as if he'd read Shikamaru's mind. "I wanted to ask you if you would be willing to tutor Temari in art."

_Hmmm, let me think… No! _yelled Shikamaru inwardly.

Temari didn't just think along the same lines; she actually voiced them. "What?" she screeched. "_Tutor? _Who gets 'tutored' in _art_? It's supposed to be a creative, a personal…" she sputtered.

"It is unusual, but if anyone needs it, it's you," Hayate told her. "For one thing, you can't seem to grasp the concepts of shading or angles, and that's elementary material." He turned back to Shikamaru. "Nara, I will not force this upon you, but you should know that if you help Temari, you will be getting extra credits. I chose to ask you for this favour, because you seem to me the best choice; Aburame doesn't give the impression of being quite social enough, and other than him you're undoubtedly the best artist in this class. Well?"

Shikamaru could feel Temari's glare burning into the side of his head. "It's not my decision only," he said politely. "I'll offer my help how I can, but I don't think she really wants it anyways."

"That's right," Temari growled.

Hayate gave her a long stare. "Well," he said finally. "It's your mistake. You can change your mind, swallow your pride, and accept his help when you decide you want to pass this class, because I'm quite sure without it I'll be seeing you here in this room again next year."

Temari bowed stiffly and walked out of the room. Shikamaru waited for his dismissal, bowed, and followed.

* * *

1. ("And the only way to win a difficult class' respect was to intimidate them. Basic teacher stuff.") This is most definitely not true. Ebisu is a crappy teacher.

Translations:

Nani? –what?

Sogon –(it's actually supposed to have a little line above the first "o", but I don't know how to do that on my computer)- awesome

-sensei –if you watch or read Naruto and don't know this… that is really sad. Just in case, I will put it anyways- teacher.

Janken –rock, paper, scissors. (grin) love that game!


End file.
